Yes! Actual information and data! Thank you! Okay, the picture links don't work (I don't think flash imports well), but you were good enough to add URLs.

Pardon me while I wallow in it a while...ahhhhh.

Okay, that's enough.

The Republican was, of course, wrong. The crime rate has gone down. However, there is more than one way to interpret this. Note that there is no direct evidence of causality here, but it is another way to interpret the numbers.

A problem with your mapping thesis: I see no reason to assume that crimes committed by illegals and gang members who are illegal would be focused at the border. It's not like illegals, good or bad, stop and set up shop there. Of course they gravitate to the population centers. For that matter, so do all criminals.

Of course, here is where I should pop in with statistics on how many of our crimes are committed by illegals. You might be surprised to know that I have yet to find reliable data on this, and what data I do find usually overlooks something (example: illegals tend toward the young male demographic, which has higher crime rates in all categories.) And of course, it's one of those subjects where it's almost impossible to work your way past all the "sources" who have axes to grind.

You will be happy to hear that I have learned enough to know that those who claim enormous percentages (25% or more) of criminals or prisoners are illegals are blowing smoke.